Safety device for power-operated machines



June 11, 1946,

R. B- WOODCOCK SAFETYDEVICE FOR POWER-OPERATED MACHINES 3 Sheets-Sheet 1 Filed 001'... 51, 1944 In vemor fieymaldBlx c'wafcock V B hz aAizorne'y June 1-1, 1946. R. B. WOODCOCK 2,401,808

SAFETY DEVICE FOR POWER-OPERATED MACHINES Filed Oct. 31, 1944 3 Sheets-Sheet 2:

Inventor .Regz nalda xvoodcock June 11, 1946. R B'WQQDQQCK 2,401,808

SAFETY DEVICE FOR POWER-OPERATED MACHINES Filed Oct. SL, 1944 5 Sheets-Sheet s Invenfor 5' Y ReginaldBfmodcock Patented June 11, 1946 SAFETY DEVICE FORPOWER-OPERATED MACHINES Reginald Boyd Woodcock, Leicester, England, as-

signor to United Shoe Machinery Corporation, Flemington, N. J., a corporation of New Jersey Application October 31, 1944, Serial No. 561,245 In Great Britain December 13, 1943 16 Claims.

. This invention relates to power-operated mechanisms and more particularly to safety devices therefor. The invention is illustrated herein as embodied in a sole-pressing machine of the type disclosed in Letters Patent of the United States No. 861,746, granted July 30, 1907, on an application filed in the name of B. F. Mayo. It should be understood, however, that the invention is not limited in its application to machines of the type shown in that patent.

Machines of the above-mentioned type are provided with twin sole-pressing mechanisms each of which comprises a shoe support and a cooperating sole-pressing member mounted for swinging movements relatively to each other, and with means for operating the twin mechanisms alternately, one shoe support and sole-pressing member remaining at rest while the other support and pressing member are swung rearwardly to apply pressure progressively to the bottom of a shoe. In the use of such a machine care must be exercised by the operator to withdraw his hand from between the support and the sole-pressing member after the shoe has been placed on the support and before the cycle of operations is initiated. Should the operator inadvertently operate the control member to start the movement of the shoe support and pressing member before his hand has been withdrawn, it may be caught therebetween and injured. Accordingly, it is an object of the present invention to provide an improved safety mechanism associated with a power-operated machine to eliminate the possibility of injury to the hands or arms of the operator. To this end and in accordance with a feature of the invention, the machine herein shown is provided with a manually operated control member carrying a guard which prevents access of the operators hands to a position of danger when the control member is in its starting position. The guard is -movable relatively to the control member to permit access to the machine when the member is in its stop position and mechanism is provided to prevent movement of the control member into starting position in the event that the guard has been moved out of operative position relatively to the member and to prevent movement of the guard into inoperative position relatively to the control member when this member is in starting position.

It is customary in machines of the type illustrated by the above-mentioned Letters Patent to provide a clutch controlled in such manner that the machine will repeat its cycle of operations as long as the control member is retained in its starting position. vIn order that the support and pressing member shall come to rest in their forward positions the-clutch is further so controlled that the machine will not come to a'stop until the completion of a cycle of operations regardless of when the control member is returned to its stop position. It may happen that if the operator returns the control member to stop position late in the cycle of operations or just as the cycle ends, the machine will repeat and go through another complete cycle before the clutch is disengaged. The operator may not be aware that this is going to happen and may attempt to remove a shoe from the supportingmember just as the machine starts to repeat with the possibility that he may be injured. To eliminate this possibility and in accordance with another object of the invention, provision is made for preventing return of the control member to its stop position should the operator attempt to return it so late in the cycle of operations that the machine will repeat and continue through another cycle. As illustrated herein, a cam which actuates a clutchrelease member when the controlmember is in stop position also actuates. a locking member which looks the control member in its starting position near the end of a cycle of operations and until another cycle of operations is well under way, so that there is no danger of the operator inadvertently placing his hands in a dangerous position, the guard at this time preventing access of the hands between thev shoe support and the pressing member.

The above and other features of the invention, including various novel combinations of parts and details of construction will now be more particularly set forth by reference to the accompanying drawings and pointed out in the claims.

In the drawings:

Fig. 1 is a side elevation of one form of machine in which the invention may be embodied;

Fig. 2 is a. side elevation of one of the control members and a portion of the guard carrie thereby;

Fig. 3 is a plan view partly in section of the mechanism shown in Fig. 2; v

Fig. 4 is a section on the line IV--IV of Fig. 2;

Fig. 5 is a section on the line VV of Fig. 1, and

Fig. 6 is a front elevation of the lower portion of the machine illustrating a portion of the control mechanism.

The present invention is illustrated as. embodied in a sole-pressing machine of. the type shown in the above-mentioned Mayo patent, to which reference can be had for a more detailed description of the construction, arrangement and operation of parts not fully disclosed herein.

The machine includes a frame Ill in which are mounted duplicate sets of shoe supports I2 and pressing forms I4. The shoe'supports are carried by jacks 16 each of which is pivotally mounted upon a transversely extending rod I8 mounted in suitable bearings carried by the frame IQ. Each jack is connected by a link 20 to a carrier 22 for the sole-pressing form I4, each carrier being pivoted at 24 to the machine frame. The jacks I6 are connected by links 26 to cranks 28 each of which is carried by a separate crank shaft 39. It will be understood that a shoe S is mounted on either support I2 by the operator when the supporting jack is in its outermost or forward position and that in the operation of the machine the corresponding shaft 30 is rotated, causing the jack and its cooperating sole-pressing form to swing inwardly or rearwardly away from the. operator to apply rolling pressure to the sole, and at the conclusion of the sole-pressing operation th'eshoe support and form are brought to rest with the shoe support in its outermost, position to permit the shoe to be removed therefrom and another shoe placed thereon.

The mechanism for operating only one of the crank shafts 33 is illustrated herein, but it Will be understood that the mechanism for operating the other crank shaft is a duplicate of that shown and described. The shaft 30 is driven from a shaft 32 through a worm 34 and worm gear 35 secured respectively to the shafts 52 and 3!]. Upon the outer end of the shaft 32 is slidably mounted a pulley 38 arranged to be connected a a groove. 44 in which, are received pins 46 carried by a lever 48.pivoted at 50 to the frame of the machine. The lever is urged in a counter-clockwise. direction, as viewed in Fig. 1, by a, tension spring 52 which urges the pulley into engagement with the clutch member 40. For holding the lever 48 in theposition shown in Fig. 1 with the clutch disengaged, the lever is provided with a shouldered stop 54 engaged by a stop arm 56 pivoted at 58 to a lever 65 which is in turn carried by a shaft 62 journaled in the machine frame. With the stop arm 56 in the position illustrated, the lever 48 is locked against movement by the spring 52 and the pulley 38 is disengaged from" the clutch member 40. For moving thestop arm 55 upwardly out of engagement with the stop 54, a shaft 64 is journaled in the frame of the machine and carries at its rearward end a cam 65 arranged for engagement with a roll 58 journaled in the stop arm 55. when the cam 66 is moved in a clockwise direction, as viewed in Fig. 5, it lifts the stop arm 56 out of engagement with the stop 54, whereupon the spring 52 causes movement of the pulley into engagement with the l clutch member to rotate the drive shaft 32.

As long as the stop arm 55 is held in its elevated position the machine will continue operating, but if the stop arm is permitted to return to the position shown in Fig. 1 it will cause disengagement of the clutch after the jack and form carrier have returned to their forward positions. For this purpose the shaft 30 carries a cam 10 having a cam groove 12 which receives a cam roll i I4 carried at the forward end of a bell-crank lever 16 pivoted at I8 to the frame of the machine. The bell-crank lever I6 is connected'by an adjustable link to the lever 50 which is thereby moved in a clockwise direction after the crank shaft 30 has completed somewhat more than a half revolution. Assuming that the shaft 64 is turnedto lift the stop arm 55 and the shaft is immediately returned to itsoriginal position, it will be apparent that the stop arm will rest on the upper surface of the stop 54, but upon clockl wise movement of the lever 65 the stop arm 56 will drop into position in front of the stop 54 so that upon return movement of the lever 60 which occurs-near the completion of one revolution of the shaft 30, the lever 48 is returned to the position shown in Fig. 1. Thus it will be seen that the clutch at the completion of a cycle of operations will be disengaged and the elements at one 7 side of the machine will come to rest. As long, however, as the stop arm 56 is held in its elevated position by the cam 66 the machine will repeat and the elements will eventually be brought to rest by the stop arm only when the elements are in their forward positions.

Turning of the shaft 64 to engage the clutch is effected. by a manually operated control member or lever 82 journaled on a shaft 84 carried by a pair of brackets 86 (only one of which is illustrated) secured to the frame of the machine. The lever 82 extends rearwardly of the shaft 84 to receive a counterweight 88 which facilitates movement of the lever by the operator. The lever is connected by a link 90 to an arm 92' fastened sponding bracket 85 has a forwardly extending portion 94 which forms a guide for the movement of the lever 82. Extending upwardly from the portion 94 of the bracket is an arm 9% having a lateral extension 98 (Figs. 3 and 4) which. form a stop to limit the upward movement of the lever 82. The lowermost position of the lever is determined by an adjustable stop I00 (Fig. 4) carried by a lateral extension I02 of the bracket 86.

In order to protect the hands of theo'perator when the lever 82 is in its'lowermost operating position, as shown by the lever at the far side of the machine in Fig. l, a guard I04 is carried at the forward end of the lever. This guard is shaped as indicated in Figs. l and 3, thereby'-ef fectively to prevent the operator from maintaining his hand on the shoe support when the control lever is lowered to begin a cycle of operations. The guard is carriedby an arm I06 (Fig. 3) whichextends laterally therefrom andis journaled on a pin I98 carried at the forward end of the lever 82 to permit the guard to be swung to one side, as indicated by the broken lines in Fig. 3, thus enabling the operator tomake adjustments of the pressing form I4 or toreplace the form if necessary.

Associated with the lever 82 i mechanism arranged to prevent downward movement of the lever to engage the clutch in the event that the guard I94 is not in its operative position, as shown by the full lines in Figl 3, and also to prevent tion shown in Fig. 2 by engagement of the rearward end of the latch bar with a stop I formed on the portion 94 of the bracket 56. The arm I I4 is provided with a forwardly extending handle portion I22 arranged to be grasped by the operator in moving the lever 82 downwardly. Downward. pressure on the handle I22 causes the latch bar IE9 to be moved forwardly, providing the guard 04 is in its operative position, thus withdrawing the rearward end of the latch bar from the stop i2!) so that the lever 82 ma be moved to its lowermost position. Associated with the pivot pin I08 by which the guard is connected to th lever 82 is a cam I24 having a portion which moves into engagement with the forward end of the latch bar I IQ when the guard is swung into inoperative position. Accordingly, if the guard is positioned as shown in broken lines in Fig. 3, forward movement of the latch bar I Iii is prevented by engagement of th bar with the cam I24 so that the lever 32 cannot be moved downwardly beyond the position shown in Fig. 2. In this position the lever has not rocked the shaft 64 suiliciently to cause engagement of the pulley 3.8 with the clutch member'dll. However, if the guard is in its operative position the latch bar may be moved forwardly by pressure exerted on the handle I22 and the lever 82 moved to its lowermost position. At this time the rearward end of the latch bar engag s a curved surface I26 of the portion 94 of the bracket so that movement of the guard I04 to its inoperative position relatively to the lever 82. is prevented by engagement of the forward end of the latch her Q Hi with a shoulder I28 of the cam I25.

From the above it will be seen that in order to initiate operation of either side of the machine the associated guard must be in its operative position, thereby to prevent the hand of the operator from remaining in a position between the shoe support and the sole-pressing form in which it might be injured, and that as long as the control lever 82 is in its down position it is impossible to swingthe guard to one side.

As stated above, when the operator desires to bring one side of the machine to a stop, the lever 82 associated with that side is swung upwardly, after which the parts come to rest in their foremost positions. It may happen, however, that he fails to move the control lever upwardl until that time in the operation of the machine when the stop arm 56 has been moved rearwardly by the cam I0 to a position above the stop 55. However, thinking the machine will come to rest, he may start to remove a shoe from the support, whereas the machine ma continue to operate through another cycle, thereby endangering the operator. Accordingly. provision is made for locking the lever 82 in its lowermost position the end of a cycle of operations and until the shoe support and the pressing form have started to move well back in the machine in the next cycle. The forward end of each shaft 64 is provided with an upwardly extending .arm'llil (Fig, 6) having a lateral projection I32 arranged when the associated shaft 64 is in clutch-engaging position, as shown at the right in Fig. 6, to be located at one side of a pin I34. The pins I34 are each carried by a sleeve I36 (Figs. 1 and 6) slidable in a bracket I38 secured to the frame of the machine. Each sleeve I36 has an upwardly projecting ear I40 (Fig. 1) connected by an adjustable link I d2 to an arm I44 pivoted at I45 t the machine frame and carrying at its lower end a cam roll I48 received in the cam groove 12. Near the end of a cycle of operations, or in other words, when the shoe support and sole-pressing member are approaching their foremost positions, the arm HM is moved in a counterclockwise direction, as viewed in Fig. l, whereupon the pin I 34 moves alongside the projection I32 of the arm I30, thereby to prevent movement of the arm and consequently of the associated shaft fi l. Accordingly, if the operator attempt to disengage the clutch at this time, he Will find the shaft 64 locked against rotation, and will be unable to raise the corresponding lever 82. The pin I34 is normally urged forwardly of the sleeve I36 by a grasshopper spring I 50 connected between the pin and the arm I44. Accordingly, if the operator has moved the control lever upwardly before the pin I35. is in looking position, the pin will engage the back side of the arm I30 and will yield relatively to the sleeve I36. It will be noted in Fig. 6 that the arms I 30 at opposite sides of the machine are interconnected by an adjustable link I52 so that the shafts 64 will be moved simultaneously in opposite directions. Accordingly, as one operating lever is moved downwardly to start the operation or one side of the machine, the other operating lever will be moved upwardly to terminate the operation at the other side of the machine. If the levers are moved to their mid-positions, as shown in Fig. 2, it will be apparent that neither clutch will be engaged and both sides of the machine will accordingly be at rest.

From the above it will be seen that by the use of simple mechanisms the principal hazards which the machine has heretofore presented to the opera-tor have been eliminated.

Having thus described the invention, what I claim as new and desire to secure by Letters Patent of the United States is:

1. In a power-operated machine, the combination of operating members relatively movable to apply pressure to a work piece, a manually movable control member for starting operation of the machine, a guard carried by said control member for movement therewith to shield said operating members from the hands of the operator when said control member is moved into starting position, means mounting said guard on said control member for movement relatively thereto into and out of operative position, and means for preventing movement of said control member into starting position when said guard is in an inoperative position.

2. In a power-operated machine, the combination of operating members relatively movable to apply pressure to a work piece, a manually movable control member for starting operation of the machine, a guard carried by said control member for movement therewith to shield said operating members from the hands of the operator when control member is moved into starting position, means mounting said guard on said control member for movement relatively thereto into and out of operative position, and means for locking said guard against movement relatively to said control member into an inoperative position when 7 the control member is in starting position.

tion, means mounting said guard on said control member for movement relatively thereto into and out of operative position, a device for releasably locking said control member against movement to starting position, and means preventing release of the control member by said device when said guard is in an inoperative position relatively to said control member.

4. In a power-operated machine, the combination of operating members relatively movable to apply pressure to a work piece, a lever movable to start the operation of the machine, a guard carried by said lever for movement therewith to shield said operating members from the hands of the operator whenv said lever is moved into starting position, a latch for locking said leveragainst movement to starting position, means for operating said latch to permit movement of the lever into starting position, said guard being mounted on said lever for movement relativelythereto into and out of operative position, and means movable with said guard for preventing release of the lever by said latch except when said guard is in operative position relatively to said lever.

5. In a power-operated machine, the combinamounted on said lever for movement relatively thereto into and out of operative position, and means cooperating with said latch to prevent movement of said guard into an inoperative position when said lever is in its starting position.

6. In a sole-pressing machine, the combination of a shoe support and a cooperating sole-pressing member, power-operated means for causing relative movement of said support and member to apply pressure to the sole of a shoe mounted on said support, a manually operated control member for starting operation of the machine, said control member being movable from'a stop position to a starting position, a guard caried thereby to shield the hand of the operator from the support and pressing member when the control member is in starting position, means mounting said guard on said control member for movement relatively thereto when the latter is in its stop position, and means for locking said guard against such relative movement when the control member is in its starting position,

7. In a sole-pressing machine, the combination of a shoe support and a sole-pressing member,

power-operated means for causing relative movement of said support and member to apply pressure to the sole of a shoe mounted on the support, a manually operated control member for starting operation of the machine, said control member being movable from a stop position to a starting position, a guard movable therewith to shield the hand of the operator from the support and pressing member when the control memher is in its starting position, means mounting said guard on said control member for movement into and out of operative position when the latter is in stop position, and means associated with said control member for looking it against movement into starting position When the guard is in its inoperative position. I a

8. In a sole-pressing machine, the combination of a shoe support and a cooperating sole-pressing member, power-operated means for causing relative movement of said support and member to apply pressure to the sole of a shoe mounted on said support, a manually operated control member for starting operation of the machine, said control member being movable from a stop posi-' tion to a starting position, a guard carried thereby to shield the hand of the operator from the support and pressing member when the control memher is in starting position, means mounting said guard on said control member for movement relatively thereto when the latter is in its stop position, a latch for normally locking'said control 7 member in inoperative position, means to cause said latch to release the control member, and means associated with said v guard for preventing release of the control member by the latch when the guard is in its inoperative position relatively to the controlmember.

9. In a power-operated machine, members arranged to applypressure to work positioned between them, power-operated'means for efiecting relative work-pressing movement'of said members in a cycle of operations of 'the'machine;

mechanism for stopping the machine automati cally at the end of acycle of operations with said members in separated relation, a device for'rendering said mechanism ineffective thus to stop the machine and for thereby causing the machine to repeat its cycleof operations, said device being movable by the operator in the course of the operation of the machine into position to render said mechanism effective thereafter to stop the machine, and means for preventing that movement of said device at a time in the cycle too late to prevent the stopping of the machine at the end of that cycle. I

10. In a power-operated machine, members ar ranged to apply pressure to work positioned between them, power-operated means for efiectlng relative work-pressing movement of said members in a cycle of operations ofthe machineya clutch through which said power-operated means is operated, mechanism 'for automatically disengaging said clutch to stop themachine at the end of a cycle of operations with said members in separated relation, a device for rendering said mechanism inefiective thus to disengage the clutch and for thereby causing the machine to repeat its cycle of operations, said device bein'gmovable by the operator in the course of the operation of the machine into position to'render said mechanism effective thereafter to disengage the clutch, and means for preventing that movement of said device at a time in the cycle of opera tions too late to prevent the machine from re peating its cycle. a

11. In a power-operated machine, members arranged to apply pressure to work positioned be tween them, power-operated means forefiecting relative work-pressing movement of said members in a cycle of operations, of the machine, a clutch through which said power-operated means is operated, mechanism for automatically disen gaging said clutch to stop the machine at the end of a cycle of operations with said members in separated relation, said mechanism including a clutch-controlling member normally movable at a predetermined time in the cycle of opera tions into an operative positionto render it 'effective thereafter to stop the machine, a device for maintaining said clutch-controlling member at the will of the operator in an inoperative position to cause the machine to repeat its cycle, said device being movable by the operator in the course of the operation of the machine to release the clutch-controlling member when it is desired to stop the machine at the end of a cycle, and means for preventing that movement of said device at a time in the cycle too late to prevent the machine from repeating its cycle.

12. In a power-operated machine, the combination of operating members relatively movable to apply pressure to a work piece, power-operated means for relatively moving said members toward and away from each other, a clutch, automatic means for stopping the operation of the machine by control of said clutch only when said members are in predetermined separated positions, an operator-controlled member movable into position to render said automatic means thus effective, and means for preventing that movement of aid operator-controlled member during a portion of the cycle of operations of the machine.

13. In a power-operated machine, the combination of operating members relatively movable to apply pressure to a work piece, power-operated means for relatively moving said members toward and away from each other, a clutch, automatic means for stopping the operation of the machine by control of the clutch only when said members are in predetermined separated positions, an operator-controlled mem ber movable into position to render said automatic means thus effective, and means operative before the end of a cycle of operations of the machine for preventing that movement of said operator-controlled member.

14. In a machine for applying pressure to shoe bottoms, a shoe support, a sole-pressing member, power-operated means for relatively moving said support and sole-pressing member to apply pressure to the bottom of a shoe on the support, a clutch controlling the operation of the machine, a member arranged automatically to disengage said clutch and stop the machine at the end of a cycle of operations, said member being movable into and out of operative position, means movable by the operator for controlling the position of said member, and means for preventing such operation of said position-controlling means as permit movement of said member into operative position at any time near the end of the cycle of operations of the machine.

15. In a machine for applying pressure to shoe bottoms, a shoe support, a sole-pressing member, power-operated means for relatively moving said support and sole-pressing member to apply pressure to the bottom of a shoe on the support, a control a rm 'f or the machine movable by the operator from starting to stopping position, a clutch controlling the operation of the machine, means for disengaging said clutch at the end of a cycle of operations of the machine when the control arm is in stopping position, and means for preventing movement of said control arm to stopping position at any time near the end of a cycle of operations.

16. In a machine for applying pressure to shoe bottoms, a shoe support, a sole-pressing member, power-operated means for relatively moving said support and sole-pressing member to apply pressure to the bottom of a shoe on the support, a control arm for the machine movable between starting and stopping positions, a clutch controlling the operation of the machine, means for disengaging said clutch at a predetermined time in the cycle of operations of the machine when the control arm is in stopping position, a guard carried by said control arm and movable therewith to guard the hands of the operator when the control arm is moved into starting position, and means for preventing movement of said control arm into stopping position near the end of a cycle of operations.

REGINALD BOYD WOODCOCK. 

